This application is related to and claims priority from Japanese Patent Applications No. Hei. 11-27863 filed on Feb. 4, 1999, and No. Hei. 11-27865 filed on Feb. 4, 1999.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner in which an evaporator is disposed with a simple pipe structure while detachment performance of the evaporator is improved.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional vehicle air conditioner, an air conditioning unit is disposed in an instrument panel portion on a front side of a passenger compartment at a center position in a vehicle right-left direction, and a blower unit is disposed to be offset from the air conditioning unit to a front passenger""s side. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,737,936, an evaporator is disposed within an air conditioning case in parallel with the vehicle right-left direction so that a heat-exchanging surface extends in a vehicle up-down direction. An opening portion for inserting the evaporator is opened in a side surface of the air conditioning case, and the evaporator is detached from the air conditioning case through the opening portion. However, because the evaporator is disposed in parallel with the vehicle right-left direction, the evaporator is need to be moved from the air conditioning case toward an inner side of the instrument panel portion when the evaporator is detached from the opening portion. Therefore, in this case, the evaporator may be interfered with compartments within the instrument panel portion, and detachment operation of the evaporator becomes difficult. Further, in the conventional air conditioner, air blown by the blower unit in parallel with the vehicle right-left direction is introduced into a front side surface of the evaporator and passes through the evaporator toward a vehicle rear side. Therefore, a predetermined space is necessary between the air conditioning case and the front side surface of the evaporator in the vehicle front-rear direction. Thus, it is necessary to connect a refrigerant inlet/outlet portion of the evaporator and a refrigerant cycle disposed in an engine compartment defined by a fire wall from the passenger compartment, by a connection pipe having a large length in a range of 300 mm-400 mm.
On the other hand, in a vehicle air conditioner described in JP-A-10-81123, an evaporator is disposed to be inclined relative to a horizontal direction. However, the evaporator is need to be detached from an air conditioning case obliquely upwardly toward an inner side of the instrument panel portion. Therefore, the evaporator may be interfered with any compartment within the instrument panel portion. Further, because the evaporator is inclined so that an inlet surface of the evaporator approximately extends in the horizontal direction, the interference range of the evaporator in the vehicle front-rear direction is enlarged, and the evaporator is difficult to be detached.
In view of the foregoing problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle air conditioner in which a cooling heat exchanger is readily detached while an interference between the cooling heat exchanger and a component within an instrument panel portion is prevented.
It is an another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle air conditioner in which a pipe structure of a cooling heat exchanger within a passenger compartment becomes simple.
According to the present invention, in a vehicle air conditioner where an air conditioning unit is disposed in an instrument panel portion at an approximate center in a vehicle right-left direction, a cooling heat exchanger is disposed in an air conditioning case of the air conditioning unit to be inclined relative to the vehicle right-left direction in such a manner that one side end of the cooling heat exchanger in the vehicle right-left direction is placed at a vehicle front side and the other side end thereof is placed at a vehicle rear side while an air inlet surface (heat-exchanging surface) of the cooling heat exchanger extends in a vehicle up-down direction. Further, the air conditioning case has a side surface portion at the other side in the vehicle right-left direction, for detaching the cooling heat exchanger obliquely toward a vehicle rear side in the other side of the vehicle right-left direction from the air conditioning case. Thus, it can prevent an interference between the cooling heat exchanger and a component disposed in the instrument panel portion when the cooling heat exchanger is detached from the air conditioning case.
Preferably, the one side end of the cooling heat exchanger is placed at a driver""s seat side within the passenger compartment, and the other side end of the cooling heat exchanger is placed at a front passenger""s seat side of the passenger compartment. Generally, because any component is not disposed in a foot area of the front passenger""s seat side, the cooling heat exchanger can be readily detached from the air conditioning case toward the foot area of the front passenger""s seat area.
Further, a blower unit for blowing air into the air conditioning case is disposed to be offset from the air conditioning case to the front passenger""s seat side in the vehicle right-left direction. Therefore, even in the arrangement of the vehicle air conditioner, the cooling heat exchanger is not interfered with the blower unit when the cooling heat exchanger is detached from the air conditioning case. Further, because the cooling heat exchanger is disposed to be inclined relative to the vehicle right-left direction, air blown by the blower unit in parallel with the vehicle right-left direction can be approximately uniformly flows through the cooling heat exchanger.
Further, the cooling heat exchanger has a pipe connection member at the one side end, for connecting with a component of a refrigerant cycle. Therefore, it is possible for the one side end of the cooling heat exchanger to be proximate to a fire wall for partitioning an engine compartment and the passenger compartment from each other. Thus, a pipe connection structure of the cooling heat exchanger, for connecting the cooling heat exchanger to a component in the engine compartment, can be made simple.
Preferably, the pipe connection member includes a joint portion integrated with the one side end of the cooling heat exchanger, and a pipe connector having a first end detachably connected to the joint portion. The cooling heat exchanger is an evaporator of a refrigerant cycle, and the refrigerant cycle includes an expansion valve, for decompressing refrigerant before being introduced into the evaporator. The expansion valve is disposed in the engine compartment defined from the passenger compartment by the fire wall having an opening at a position proximate to the pipe connector. Further, the pipe connector has a second end exposed into the engine compartment through the opening of the fire wall, and the expansion valve is connected to the pipe connector from the engine compartment to communicate with the joint portion of the evaporator through the pipe connector. Thus, the evaporator has a simple refrigerant pipe structure in the passenger compartment, while the expansion valve can be readily connected to the pipe connector of the evaporator from the engine compartment. Further, because the expansion valve is disposed in the engine compartment, noise generated from the expansion valve is hardly transmitted to the passenger compartment.